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Bihar: 68 Fell Sick After Consuming Food In Hostel Run By Watchman As Headmaster Missing For Two Years
7 Aug 2018 9:33 AM GMT
On August 6, about 68 students of Ambedkar Vidyalaya, Pokhraira, a residential school meant for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students in Muzaffarpur district, Bihar fell ill after consuming their hostel meal. The hostel comes under the Social Welfare Department of Bihar.
While speaking to The Logical Indian, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Muzaffarpur Dr Shiv Chandra Bhagat said, “About 68 students of Ambedkar Vidyalaya, Pokhraira fell sick after consuming the meal. Ten of them were then admitted at the Saraiya PHC. All of them have been treated now.”
As reported by India Today, the students said that the food served to them at the hostel was stale most of the time. They also said that they would develop uneasiness upon consuming such food. Reportedly, CMO of Saraiya PHC inspected the school hostel and said that its condition was found to be extremely bad. He said, “The kitchen is in pathetic condition and even the cooks were found to be untidy. There’s only one hand pump for water. Students drink and bathe in the same water. The toilets are in deplorable condition. The sleeping arrangement is shabby and most of the students sleep on the floor as they don’t have adequate beds.”
Even as the hostel’s kitchen menu boasts of food items like milk, fruits and sweets, upon inspection, only stale rice and potato were found. A doctor who treated these children reportedly said that the hostel is absolutely inhabitable and that the authority is retorting to face-saving by falsely saying that the kids fell sick due to monsoon season.
No headmaster for two years
The students were allegedly even given Rs 100 to not talk about the pathetic state of the hostel. In fact, what’s worse is that, as per reports, the students even claimed that the headmaster of this school has not shown up in last two years and the hostel’s security guard is looking after the management of the hostel.
The Logical Indian take
It is definitely not the first time that state-run residential schools or shelter homes are under the scanner for pathetic and inhuman living conditions. What is the point of such hostels if minimum living conditions are not maintained. Children falling ill after having food at such hostels has become so common that now it seems no more than mere statistics. The Logical Indian hopes that the concerned authorities take notice of this and make sure that such incidents do not happen again.
Read more about it here.
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